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Show mr 5 j Marine Tragedies and Their Secrets FAMOUS VESSELS BLOWS UP. Fate of the Maine Recalls Other Disasters of the Deep, 3 Equally Horrible and Equally Mysterious. S THE TORPEDO IX MODERX WARFARE. No navy la free from sail stories of explosions In its powder and ammunition magazines, and since the loginning of our civil war the number of easels destroyed by torpedoes in some form, or by submarine mines, makes a grewsome list. Is It generally known, for example, that In the civil war seven monitors and eleven wooden vessels of war were totally deHad stroyed by submarine mines? the Confederates possessed the same knowledge at the beginning of the war the struggle would have been, at the least, much prolonged, and the disaster to life and tonnage been greatly increased. During our early struggles several vessels were blown up, notably the Randolph, of Immortal memory, but the most memorable case, and surely one of the most pathetic, was the destruction of the Intrepid, commanded by the gallant Somers. She was fitted out as a floating mine, and on the night of September 4, 1804, started from off shore under sail for the Inner harbor of Tripoli. Anxious eyes watched her from the blockading fleet, and at ten o'clock a thunderous report was heard, a column of flame was seen vibrating in the skies, and then the roar of hundreds of guns mounted ashore. No one came back to tell the story, but It Is believed that Somers kept his word not to be taken alive by the enemy, and blew up the ship ho escape capture. It was learned that the Intrepid had grounded on the north ledge of the harbor, and that she had been attacked by three gunboats. I on board. Among other crimes laid so unjustly to Irish sympathizers by the English press and people was the destruction of the British gunboat Dotterel in the Straits of Magellan. She arrived off Punta Arenas about nine a. m. on April 26. 1881. The captain went ashore soon after to pay his official cal, and about ten a. m. two terrible explosions were heard, and an immense cloud of smoke was seen hovering over the ship in the perfect calm of the morning. Projectiles of all kinds, masses of human beings, of ship equipage and of general wreckage were discovered flying through the air, and the water for a quarter of a mile around the ship was littered with debris. Boats put off from the shore, and out of the whole ship's company of over 150 souls only eight were saved. Fenian plots were held to be the cause of the disaster, and South America and Australia were the scenes of police Inquiry for months. It Is now believed that the explosion was due to the spontaneous Ignition of a paint then used In the British navy. This, under deterioration or when exposed to heat, was found to give off a highly inflammable gas, and as the first explosion occurred In the neighborhood of the paint locker, this plausible theory Is now accepted. During the last twenty years two other cases have occurred one, when In 1880 a Spanish gunboat was blown up In the harbor of Santiago de Cuba, and the other In 1893, when a most damaging and distressing explosion occurred on board of the German ar Aaant the Vineyard. E. G. Lodeman, In Department of Agriculture Report: To most people the art of the vineyardlst Is a mystery; n fact, the vlneyardlBt himself Is very frequently puzzled unless he has stud-e- d the various modifying circumstances and conditions which exert an influence upon his vines; and yet, when the entire subject of grape culture Is considered with regard to its underly-n- g and fundamental features the mass of minute details lose their apparent Importance, and a few essential facts stand out dearly, forming a framework upon which the living and variable methods may be arranged, with due respect to their relative Importance. The haze which has hung over what should be the simple operations of pruning and training the grape has discouraged many from examining Into the comparatively easy problem of determining the. must simple and economical lice of treatment to be followed. As the grapevine Is seen growing In wild nature it is found to be a vigorous, plant, steadily overcoming one obstacle after another and frequently climbing to great height y means of its long, slender branches, which are provided with tendrils that enable It to retain possession of its domain. When such an successful and plant Is comenergetic and dwarfed with geometrical its pared neighbor of the vineyard there Is abundant reason for wonder as to how the wild and rampant child of the woods could be so radically transformed into a small, compact growth, which evidently feels its commercial Importance and quietly settles down to steady work. Yet the change can be made with comparative ease, and the various THE JUNIOR OFFIC ERS OF THE MAINE. are at present (1) Engineer Proctor, (2) Engineer French, (3) Gherardl, (4) Wodhams, (5) steps of the operation commer- numerous In the Illustrated (8) Ramsey, (10) Butler, Dr. Richards, (6) Ward. (7) Engineer Mansfield, (11) W atson. down tide streams. The fuses were generally of the percussion type, and fulminate of mercury euiered largely Into their composition. The Ho ubs tonic was destroyed by a submarine boat, but the Albemarle was blown up by Cushing with a torpedo carried on the end of a spar. This torpedo was made of a stout cylindrical copper case, filled with powder and fitted with a hollow tube, which carried at Its bottom a fulminate cap. A small sized grape shot, secured with a pin, was held at the top, and by releasing this at the eventful mo dangerous, however, and all effort was thereafter directed to the dirigible, or the automobile, torpedo. Generally described the dirigible torpedo is one that contains Its own propelling and firing mechanisms, and is piloted from the shore by means of electric cables, which function the machinery. The automobile torpedo Is a weapon that is shot from a tube, generally called a torpedo gun, and takes up Its line of progress by machinery contained in Its body. There are many forms of these, like the Howell and the Whitehead, for example, and some ex self-asserti- ever-wideni- ment Cushing destroyed the Albemarle and his own boat at the same time, and then made one of the most andaring andxmaqtlc escapes In the imMany nals of naval history. proved systems were employed and much Ingenuity was displayed, the most inventive of all experimenters being a confederate officer, who previ ng traordinary results hare been obtain- ed with both. The Whitehead Is discharged from the tube by steam or powder, and just as It leaves the muzzle a lock automatically opened releases the compressed air carried in a flask and sets in motion the ms chlnery. Three things muBt tie done by it It must go through the watet at a high speed, preserving Its linear direction; It must float at a constant depth, and on striking it must explode. The ingenuity and simplicity of the mechanism which effects these three things are really marvelous. The Howell torpedo Is based upor. n the principle of the gyroscope. Its speed and surety of direction are given by the functioning o! an Inner wheel, which Is relatively very heavy on the periphery, and revolves with such velocity and In such a constant plane that high speed and great straightness of trajectory are secured. There zre many other forms, but these two are employed In our service, and the Whitehead Is used by nearly all the navies of the world . well-know- Submarine HOW THE MAINE LOOKS FROM A PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN THE DAY AFTER THE DISASTER. was surmised, but never known. that, to prevent the valuable supply of ammunition falling lqto the hands of the enemy, Somers fired her, destroying his own people and the Tripolitans swarming out of their boats lpto the In June, hapless American tender. 1829, the wooden ship Pulton, then stationed as the receiving ship off Brooklyn, blew up from causes never Seventy-fiv- e persons were revealed. killed and about thirty were wounded. Tradition has woven many a romantic, many an impossible story One yarn told about this disaster. a gunners mate had creepingly how he as thought unjustly, been punished and In revenge destroyed the ship. In so doing he lost his own life, but galled In killing the object of his an officer, who had left the ship comquietly a short time before the real The story crime. the mission of seems to be that a fuddled gunner's mats by some error made his way Into the magazine with an exposed lighted candle, stumbled Into the. powder barrel of the period and thus blew the ship skyward. The Amphlon Destruction. In the English service there have been a number of notable cases of exOne plosion, but mainly In action. well known In time of peace was the destruction of the frigate Amphion, off Capt. Israel Pellew commanding, a guntoo, Here, Plymouth, England. ners mate appears as the god In the machine for, apocryphal or not. It Is believed to this day that the seaman In question went with a lighted lamp into the magaslne to steal powder, which then had a ready market Several hundred people were destroyed, among them prominent officials and citizens of the town who were dining It ha-Itre- d, mored ship Baden, then at anchor off Kiel. Of the war inventions employed to destroy ships by submarine or aerial projectiles or by mines the number Is legion. We were among the earliest to employ these, and our contributions to the history of torpedo warfare have been very many and very notable. The famous Battle of the Kegs has been sung In mock heroic verse, and the Philadelphians of 1777 had many a merry jest over the valorous attack made by the British grenadiers upon these Innocuous barrels. Capt. David Bushnell of Connecticut was one of the earliest experimenters with torpedoes, though Robert Fulton was the first to call a magazine of powder Intended for use under This great Inwater by this name. ventor made many experiments, and the partisans and opponents of the new system filled the journals of that day with acrimonious discussions. The failure of torpedoes In the war of 1812 and the general feeling against this mode of warfare as Inhuman and barbarous caused, however. Its practical abandonment for many years. The Confederate Torpedoea. Submarine boats bad been generally employed In all experiments up to the beginning of the civil war, and It was really not until 1863 that movable or fixed isolated torpedoes were brought Into general use. The confederate torpedoes were usually made of copper and filled with powder, varying in weights, according to circumstances of employment, from fifty to one These hundred and fifty pounds. were carried on spars attached to ships or boats, were anchored on the bottom, or were sent drifting singly or In pairs, connected by long lines, ous to the war had been a dancing master. Handling Torpedoes. For a season towing torpedoes were In great favor. These were handled from the ship, and by certain dextrous shlftings of the connecting lines were carried off each quarter at a safe angle, and made to dive at the desired moment. They proved' to be well-kno- Minus. The term submarine mine Is applied to defensive mines or to thosr which would be used to obstruct the channels of a river or estuary, or thr approaches to a fortified or unprotected seaport. Col. Samuel Colt, the Inventor of the American revolver, first demonstrated the practicability oi blowing up vessels by submarine miner fired by electricity. In 1842 he blew up the old gunboat Boxer, and In 1843 he destroyed a brig In the Potomac river, while the vessel was under way. sailing at the rate of five miles an hour. A Misunderstanding. American Tourist I understand, Marquis, that you fell In love with a distinguished American lady on account of her pretty foot?" Marquis Dat is it. De pretty vay she foots de bills." New York Weekly. MlNMHIIMtlMIUtlMmMHMMHIHOHMIMIMMMIIIMMMtMfMlMMUHMHIUI THE MIDSHIP SECTION OF THE MAINE FROM A PHOTO THE DAY AFTER THE DISASTER. TAKEN ITALIAN METHOD OF TRAINING, vineyards of the world. The vines of many Italian vineyards have for centuries been trained over trees in imitation of the trellis furnished the vines by nature. The accompanying Illustration shows this primitive method of Five or six vines are each tree, and by meane planted about of stakes and strings or wire the shoots are carried to the branches. Here they are very commonly allowed to roam at will, the only pruning that is done being to cut back more or less of the shoots produced each year. The trees are planted so close together that the vines often extend from one tree to the next, thus forming a continuous tangle of' grapevines and trees. Although method can scarcely be termed the pruning, still it la an advance; and fruit borne is also to a limited extent benefited by such thinning. Where argrapevines are allowed to run over receive slmllai bors, they generally treatment, but In such cases dense foliage Is sought more than fine fruit Such practices are, as a rule, wholly unsystematic, and therefore cannot be discussed In connection with our beat methods. . : dal grape-trainin- g. , Intensive Culture. In France, according to authorities who criticise Canadian agriculture from this standpoint, the art of fertilizing the soil Is carried to such an extent that, in case of tenant farming, the tenant usually reserves the right to carry the surface of the soil of his farm or garden away with him on the expiration of his lease. This is the more practicable in that country because of excellent means of communication, the usual smallness of the lots cultivated, and the fact that the French peasantry seldom wander far from the neighborhood In which they were born. The returns from a single acre of land cultivated in the vicinity of Paris by the highest degree of Intensive tillage often amount to eight or even ten fold more than the returns from an acre of land on a Canadian farm. Rural Canadian. For the Farm Boy. You want good advice? Rise early. Be abstemious. Be frugal. Attend to your own business and never trust It to another. Be not afraid of work, and diligently, too, with your own hands. Treat every one with civility and respect Good manners Insure success. Accomplish what you undertake. Never be mean rather give than take the odd shilling. Honesty is not only the best policy, but the only policy. Time is money. Make your word as good as your bond. Reckon the hours of the day as so many dollars, the minutes as so many cents. Live within your Income. Ninety-nin- e may say no, the hundredth, yes. Take off your coat; dont be afraid of manual labor. America is large enough for ZlL Farmers Tribune. |